ST. LOUIS -- A season that included three demotions and a limited role when he was on the Major League roster has now been cut short for Shane Robinson, who underwent season-ending surgery on his left shoulder on Thursday.

The Cardinals made the announcement on Friday, four days after Robinson fractured a bone in his shoulder while sliding into second base. He had a similar injury four years earlier.

Offered the option of trying to rehab the shoulder, Robinson instead chose to have arthroscopic surgery. He will be in a sling for about four weeks but is expected to have a relatively normal offseason that will allow him to be ready for the start of the 2015 season.

"For him, this is probably the best thing to do," GM John Mozeliak said. "He probably could have tried to rehab, but it wouldn't have made long-term sense for his own career. Given where he's at, this is probably the smartest decision to deal with this now and allow him a full offseason to recover."

Robinson hit .150//227/.200 over 60 at-bats with the Cardinals, and went 4-for-26 as a pinch-hitter. He was most recently called back from Triple-A on Aug. 1. Robinson will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter.

"There have been a lot of times where we have been trying to figure something out around here, where we needed some help, needed an arm, needed to try and do something, and Shane seemed to be on the short end of it most of the time," manager Mike Matheny said. "He handled it great. Then this happened when we were trying to get him a couple opportunities. It's a bad turn for him."